Circuit breaker halt at 114

Has resumed now

From Yahoo Finance
….. But underneath the surface, one of the wildest trading days we’ve seen in some time broke out.
GameStop (GME) remained the day’s top story, as the stock continued its unbelievable run from the ~$4 per share range back in the summer to a whopping $76.77 as of Monday’s close.
In a story published Monday, Bloomberg’s Brandon Kochkodin chronicled the ongoing relationship between Reddit’s “wallstreetbets” (WSB) forum, and shares of the struggling video game retailer. In this story we find a fundamental case for buying the stock: A character from Michael Lewis’ famous book “The Big Short” (Dr. Michael Burry), an activist investor who also founded Chewy (CHWY), and along the way a redditor named “Senior_Hedgehog” plays a major role.
Truly a tale for the modern market.

As Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre has chronicled, the last handful of trading sessions have centered on the clash between WSB and GameStop’s short sellers. This saga continued on Monday.

But during the session, we also saw the breakout of a market-wide strategy to pile into names that investors are betting against en masse. According to data from FinViz, more than a dozen stocks with more than 30% of their outstanding shares sold short rallied more than 10% on Monday.

In other words, betting on companies that lots of investors are betting against was the biggest driver of single-stock moves to start the week.

Shares of La Croix-maker National Beverage Co. (FIZZ) rose more than 13% on Monday; more than 60% of the company’s stock is currently being sold short.

Some retail-related names were also caught up in this trade, as mall REIT Macerich (MAC) saw its shares rise more than 21% on Monday, while shares of Macy’s (M) were up 10%. More than 30% of both companies’ shares outstanding are currently sold short.
However, not all efforts to blow out the shorts succeeded on Monday.
Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY) — which has a short interest north of 60% — gained 1.5% on Monday, but not before some chicanery that saw shares rise as much as 50% in late-morning trade. Shares of BBBY, we should note, are up some 200% over the past six months.
And not every single-stock surge on Monday was tied to huge short interest. BlackBerry (BB), for instance, saw its stock spike by some 28% to start the week — causing the company to issue a statement explicitly stating that it had no news to report, and therefore no explanation for the rally. Just about 7% of BlackBerry’s outstanding shares are currently sold short.

Which brings us to beleaguered retailer Express (EXPR).
With a market cap under $100 million before Monday’s trade, this is a name that rarely gets much attention in the broader market. But a 131% rally to start the week changed that.
Before Monday’s open, Express shares were rocketing and the stock didn’t move all that much after the open. On Friday, the stock closed at $1.79 per share; on Monday, Express shares closed at $4.15.
Rarely does this kind of move come and go without explanation. But on Monday, the media and Wall Street analysts were left scratching their heads to explain this one-day double of a 1990s-era suburban mall staple.
“Express has been the subject of Reddit boards where users speculated [about] whether it could be the next GameStop, the video-game retailer that surged again today,” Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Leading everyone right back to where this day started: Reading Reddit and looking for the next big thing.

Bought to Open GME Feb 12 2021 17.0 Puts / Sold to Open GME Jan 29 2021 30.0 Puts @ 0.15 Credit
Bought to Open GME Feb 19 2021 15.0 Puts / Sold to Open GME Jan 29 2021 29.0 Puts @ 0.13 Credit
Paired off with my one crazy GME Call Spread
GME = 75.0 after almost hitting 160 earlier today

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/gamestop-explodes-early-trading-nears-10-billion-market-cap-amc-next

Also holding 2 lottery tickets 02/05/2021 12.0 Puts left over from the spread I did last week.

Explaining The Action: Benzinga PreMarket Prep co-host Dennis Dick and Tim Quast, founder and CEO of ModernIR and Market Structure Edge, discussed the short squeeze trade on Monday morning’s show.
“There are people arguing with me that GameStop’s fundamentals have totally turned around and this price is justified. And I’m trying to say this has absolutely nothing to do with company fundamentals in a move like GameStop,” Dick said.
Related Link: GameStop’s Power Surge: Will WallStreetBets Or The Short Sellers Come Out On Top?
Citron Research editor Andrew Left has taken a lot of heat from critics since taking a short position and setting a $20 price target for GameStop earlier this month. Quast said the difficulties Left and other small-time retail traders face in timing these huge runs is that they don’t have access to the same real-time information that large market makers like Citadel Securities do. In addition, the market makers don’t have to play by the same rules.
“This is something that traders often don’t understand,” Quast said. “There is a market-making exemption for the Citadels and the Two Sigma’s and the Morgan Stanleys and the Goldman Sachs of the world where they don’t have to locate stock to short like you and I would…They have been granted an SEC exemption as market makers from having to locate shares. They can manufacture them.”
“This is how a stock can behave crazily. How is it possible that GameStop is up 817% prior to today…just in the last 90 days?” Quast said.
Short Interest Vs. Short Volume: Quast said there are important reasons for these exceptions to the normal trading rules for market makers, who are responsible for maintaining liquidity in the stock market. But traders must understand what’s actually going on.
“Citadel is going to know what the buy-sell balance is, and when it reaches a point of equilibrium, Citadel will shift short and we will see a mean reversion for GameStop. And the only way you will see that is by watching short volume, not short interest. It will be three weeks out of date, and it’s absolutely meaningless as a measure of float or total shares outstanding,” Quast said.
Quast said these “manufactured” shares produced by market makers are responsible for stocks like GameStop temporarily having short interest well above 100%.
Is This The End? The wild trading action on Monday comes the same day Goldman Sachs issued a note pointing out potential bubble valuations in 39 stocks. Goldman named Crispr Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP), Snowflake Inc (NYSE:SNOW) and Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) among the most overvalued stocks in the market based on projected 2022 enterprise value-to-sales ratios.
At around 10 a.m. on Monday, many of the heavily shorted stocks associated with the recent squeeze began to reverse course, including GameStop. On Twitter, Dick speculated that the short squeeze trade may have finally capitulated to the upside.
“It’s cooling off rapidly in last 5 minutes. I think we just topped out,” he wrote. “We just saw ‘Peak Stupidity’ and everyone is learning the hard way right now.”
Benzinga’s Take: The GameStop run among retail traders has worked like a charm up to this point and has likely forced plenty of retail short sellers to cover their positions at large losses. However, successfully timing the entry and exit points in highly volatile short squeezes can be extremely difficult, even for professional traders.

BZ: Steve Weiss On CNBC’s Halftime Report Says Bought GameStop Puts In March Because ‘This Is All Going Down,’ Says ‘This Should Be A $2 Stock’

Sell Mortimer … Sell

Bought to open VXX 02/19/2021 38.0 Calls /Sold VXX 01/29/2021 19.0 Calls @ 0.02 Credit
Bought to open VXX 02/19/2021 33.0 Calls /Sold VXX 01/29/2021 18.0 Calls @ 0.03 Credit.
These pair off with existing VXX Put spreads.

Sold to close the long Puts I owned against the short puts that expired Friday despite BB being up 45% today.
Sold to close BB Mar 19 2021 6 Puts @ 0.23.
Bought them @ 0.18 and they were fully paid for by Friday’s short.

Bought 1 GME 02/12/2021 100.0 Call while selling 1 GME 01/29/2021 80.0 Call @ 2.00 Credit on the open.
Execution prices were 22.0 for the buy and 24.0 for the sell.
We will see if the tornado bucks me off on Friday

Sold to close SPY 01/29/2021 385.0 Calls @ 2.20.
Bought these on 12/22 at 1.83 and again on 12/24 at 1.33

Will buy a new long several weeks longer in time (at a higher strike) to hedge my short calls.

Bought to close VXX 01/22/2021 18.00 Diagonal Calls @ 0.01. They won’t trade any lower.

Sold these @ 0.47 & 0.48 on 01/15.

I’m letting expire other short VXX short calls I have for today at even higher strikes

Bought to close 01/22/2021 SLB 26.50 Diagonal Calls @ 0.01. Sold on 01/15 @ 0.29
Bought to close 01/22/2021 SLB 27.00 Diagonal Calls @ 0.01. Sold on 01/19 @ 0.20

Rolled SLB 01/22/2021 23.00 Diagonal Calls up to 01/29/2021 23.50 Calls@ 0.02 Credit

Rolled VXX 01/22/2021 19.50 Puts to next week for 0.22 Credit.
Rolled VXX 01/22/2021 20.00 Puts to next week for 0.17 Credit.
Rolled VXX 01/22/2021 21.50 Puts to next week for 0.20 Credit.
Rolled VXX 01/22/2021 22.50 Puts to next week for 0.17 Credit.

My short VXX 15.00, 15.50 and 16.00 short puts are still looking like they will expire tomorrow.

Oil Producers and Drillers Tumble: Biden Poised To Freeze Oil And Coal Leasing On Federal Land.

DVN and EOG are each down over 8%

Bought to close SLB 01/22/2021 23.50 Diagonal Calls / Sold 01/29/2020 24.00 Calls @ 0.02 Credit plus a half point bump in the short strike.

Waiting for short 26.50 and 27.00 short calls expiring tomorrow to drop to a penny.

Bought to close SLB 01/22/2021 24.00 Diagonal Calls / Sold 01/29/2020 24.50 Calls @ 0.02 Credit plus a half point bump in the short strike.

Rolled WFC 01/22/2021 30.50 Diagonal Calls out a week for 0.13 Credit
Rolled WFC 01/22/2021 31.00 Diagonal Calls out a week for 0.18 Credit
Rolled WFC 01/22/2021 31.50 Diagonal Calls up to 01/29/2021 32.00 Calls for 0.02 Credit.

Waiting for my short 01/22/2021 33.00 Diagonal calls to drop to a penny so I can cover them (or I’ll just let them expire).

Apparently 2 for 1.
My Feb 90 puts are now Feb 45 Puts

Dumped my 1 extra long Jan 25 2021 385.0 Call @ 2.03. Bought this a while back on 12/21 as part of a diagonal spread @ 1.64.

Bought to close 1 SPY 01/19/2021 380.0 Diagonal Call @ 0.01. Sold this on 01/14/2021 @ 1.98.

This was hedged by a long Jan 29 2021 385.0 Call bought on 12/22/2020 @ 1.83 which has now been written against several times.

I’m writing against the long one more time by selling the 01/25/2021 383.0 Diagonal Call @ 1.03

Gilead Sciences, Inc. ( GILD ) is currently at $67.72 , up $4.39 or 6.94%
— Would be highest close since Aug. 18, 2020 , when it closed at $69.06
— On pace for largest percent increase since April 17, 2020 , when it rose 9.73%
— Currently up three consecutive days; up 10.05% over this period
— Best three day stretch since the three days ending March 19, 2020 , when it rose 14.01%
— Up 16.24% month-to-date
— Up 16.24% year-to-date

Bought to close 1 SPY Jan 15 2021 372.0 Call/ Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 22 2021 374.0 Call @ 0.63 Credit plus I bumped the strike price up 2 points.

Still waiting out my 377 call for the next 2 hours with SPY @ 376.75 at 2:00pm

Bought to close VXX 01/15/2021 20.0 Diagonal Calls @ 0.02.
Sold these on 01/08 @ 0.26.
Replaced them with short 01/22/2021 20.50 Diagonal Calls @ 0.40.
The long hedge for these are Feb 38 Calls already paid for with previous diagonals.

Bought to Close 1 SPY Jan 13 2021 372 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 15 2021 372 Call @ 0.50 Credit.
Bought to Close 1 SPY Jan 13 2021 375 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 20 2021 377 Call @ 0.32 Credit plus a 2 point bump in the short strike.

Pretty extraordinary moves for the SPY and some mostly sleepy stocks just in the last 5 days
SPY from 368 to 381
SLB from 21.98 to 26.73
WFC from 29.46 to 34.52
MRO from 6.81 to 8.38
CINF from 82.62 to 93.83

I’ve been fading most of these movers with Bear Call diagonal spreads. The next few weeks should be interesting.

Could be something or could be nothing

Morgan Stanley Spots An Extremely Rare Market Signal Which Precedes Selloffs

The percentage of NYSE stocks above 200-day moving averages has surpassed 90% for the first time since 2009. This rare event has happened only five times using weekly data going back to 1974.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/morgan-stanley-spots-extremely-rare-market-signal-which-precedes-selloffs

Not everyone agrees: without looking at the data, Bank of America notes that the 2009 and 1975 signals occurred after “generational lows” for the SPX, and explains – somewhat hopefully – that while “market corrections are a part of the life of an investor, if history is any guide, this move above 90% for the % of stocks above 200-day MAs is less likely a sign of a major top and more likely longer-term bullish confirmation after a period of economic and market stress.”

One of the two banks is wrong, and since nobody likes unnecessary suspense, we will know who is right and who is wrong in just a few days.

Sold to open VXX 01/15/2021 15.50 Puts @ 0.22
Sold to Open VXX 01/15/2020 19.50 Calls @ 0.29

Sold to open VXX 01/15/2021 15.00 Puts @ 0.09
Sold to Open VXX 01/15/2020 20.00 Calls @ 0.26

Bought to close SLB 01/08/2021 25.0 Calls @ 0.01 – Sold this week at 0.38.
Sold to close SLB 01/15/2021 25.0 Calls @ 0.48 – Bought to open a long time ago @ 0.09 as part of an old Diagonal Call Spread

Bought to close 01/08/2021 19.00 Calls @ 0.01
Bought to close 01/08/2020 16.00 Puts @ 0.01.

Looking to reload for next week.

Bought to close VXX Jan 08 2021 20.5 Calls @ 0.01. Sold Monday at $0.26.
Bought to close VXX Jan 08 2021 21.0 Calls @ 0.01. Sold Monday at $0.23.
Bought to close VXX Jan 08 2021 21.5 Calls @ 0.01. Sold Monday at $0.21.

Bought to close 1 SPY Jan 08 2021 375.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 15 2021 377.0 Call @ $0.26 Credit while pushing the strike price up 2 points.
Bought to close 1 SPY Jan 08 2021 374.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 13 2021 375.0 Call @ $0.14 Credit while pushing the strike price up 1 point.

TSLA’s rocket ship move (up over 20% this week alone) continues to power the SPY ever higher 😦

Crosses above 800 !!

Bought to close VXX Jan 08 2021 24.0 Calls at $0.01. Sold these on 12/29 at an average of 0.24.
Bought to close VXX Jan 08 2021 23.0 Calls at $0.01. Sold these on 12/29 at an average of 0.27.

Bought to close VXX Jan 08 2021 25 Calls at $0.01. Sold these on 12/29 at an average of 0.22.

Taking a gain on the long side of the diagonals I have been writing for the last month and rolling it up and out a month.
Sold to Close SPY Jan 15 2021 370.00 Calls at $8.61. Bought these on 12/08/2020 at $7.12
Bought to open SPY Feb 19 2021 385.00 Calls at $4.86.

Put the $375 difference in my pocket for now.

Despite the disappointing move in the VIX this morning, I was still able to bring in cash on my rolls to next week.
Rolled VXX 22.50 Puts to next week @ 0.15 Credit
Rolled VXX 21.50 Puts to next week @ 0.20 Credit
Rolled VXX 20.00 Puts to next week @ 0.25 Credit
Rolled VXX 19.50 Puts to next week @ 0.30 Credit

Sold VXX Jan 08 2021 20.5 Calls at $0.26.
Sold VXX Jan 08 2021 21.0 Calls at $0.23.
Sold VXX Jan 08 2021 21.5 Calls at $0.21.
VXX = 17.29 + 0.50
Replaces some calls that expired on 12/31

I was faked out by the pre-market strength so I probably didn’t get the best fills.
At least I pushed the short strikes up a bit but based on what I’m seeing now(10:15), the shorts for today might have both expired
Oh well …..
Bought to close 1 SPY Jan 04 2021 372.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 11 2021 375.0 Call @ 0.44 Credit.
Bought to close 1 SPY Jan 04 2021 373.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 13 2021 377.0 Call @ 0.65 Credit.

Chart of the day
Kind of a boring year

This market just won’t stay down on expiration day.
Bought to close SPY Dec 31 2020 371.0 Call Net Credit / Sold to Open SPY Jan 08 2021 374.0 Call @ 1.05 Credit plus 3 more points on the short strike.

Bought to close WFC Dec 31 2020 29.0 Calls / Sold to Open WFC Jan 08 2021 29.0 Calls@ 0.23 Credit.

Bought to close GILD Dec 31 2020 57.0 Put / Sold to Open GILD Jan 08 2021 56.0 Put @ 0.29 Credit and lowered the strike price a point for only 1 more week.
That puts the strike price below the 52 week low.
In fact you’d have to go back to 2013 to find a lower price.
Dividend yield here is 4.80%

Bought to close ADS 12/31/2020 75.0 Diagonal Calls @ 0.25.
Sold these on another rollup last Thursday @ 0.87.

Replaced them with short ADS 01/08/2021 77.50 Diagonal Calls @ 1.00 for a Net Credit of 0.75 and I added another 2.50 to the short strike.

Extending my Put ladder.
Bought to open GILD May 21 2021 40.0 Put / Sold to Open GILD Jan 15 2021 55.0 Put @ $0.37 Credit.
I’ve got some 56.50 and 57.00 puts expiring tomorrow that I’ll have to deal with.

BTW: new YTD low today @ 56.56. The only SP500 stock to hit a new low today.

Bought to open TQQQ Feb 19 2021 90 Put / Sold to Open TQQQ Jan 08 2021 155.0 Put @ $0.32 Credit.

I’ve got a 150/190 short diagonal strangle expiring tomorrow and will have a chance to write more of these puts later on against the leftover January monthly longs.

Liquidating the long side of some old spreads while there is still some profit there.
Sold to close VXX Jan 15 2021 $16.0 Puts @ 0.65. Average cost into the position was $0.55.

These were purchased as part of some diagonal put spreads in late summer and early October. I’ve lost count how many times I written against them but it’s a lot.

(Calculus involved in this exit = will VXX be below 15.35 in two weeks? Inquiring minds want to know)

Bought to close 1 SPY Dec 30 2020 369.0 Call / Sold to Open 1 SPY Jan 06 2021 371.0 Call @ 0.70 Credit.
Added 2 points to the short strike.

Using the almost 1 point move up in VXX to bring in more cash and improve the strike prices on a few, for one more week.
Bought to close VXX 12/31/2020 22.50 Puts / Sold VXX 01/08/2021 22.50 Puts @ 0.23 Credit.
Bought to close VXX 12/31/2020 21.50 Puts / Sold VXX 01/08/2021 21.50 Puts @ 0.33 Credit.

Bought to close VXX 12/31/2020 20.50 Puts / Sold VXX 01/08/2021 20.00 Puts @ 0.05 Credit plus a 0.50 lower strike.
Bought to close VXX 12/31/2020 20.00 Puts / Sold VXX 01/08/2021 19.50 Puts @ 0.10 Credit plus a 0.50 lower strike.
(This is the first chance to rolldown VXX in the money Puts that I’ve seen in a couple of weeks)

Since there are no decent premiums for this week, selling some for next week.
Sold VXX Jan 08 2021 23.0 Calls from $0.25 up to $0.35.
Sold VXX Jan 08 2021 24.0 Calls from $0.22 up to $0.27.
Sold VXX Jan 08 2021 25.0 Calls from $0.19 up to $0.25.

VXX topped out at 17.76 so far today.

Sold 1 WBA 01/08/2021 41.0 Covered Call @ 0.69.
Replaces a similar call that expired Friday.

Sold 1 AAL 01/08/2021 17.00 Covered Call @ 0.45.
This replaces the 17.0 Call that expired Friday.

Bought to close GILD 12/24/2020 57.00 Put @ 0.02
Sold to Open GILD 01/08/2021 56.00 Put @ 0.66.

Missed this fill from yesterday
Sold MRO 01/08/2021 7.50 Covered Calls @ 0.14

Replacing the short positions that expired yesterday
Bought to Open SPY Jan 29 2021 385 Call / Sold to Open SPY Dec 28 2020 368 Call at $0.12 Credit.

Bought to close 1 SPY Dec 24 2020 367 Call at $0.95 – Sold on 12/22 @ $2.04

In it’s place Sold to Open 1 SPY Dec 30 2020 369 Call at $1.72 for a Net Credit of $0.77 and a 2 point higher short strike.

1 SPY 12/23/2020 370.0 Diagonal Call – Sold @ 1.15
1 SPY 12/23/2020 372.0/385.0 Bear Call Spread – Sold for a net Credit of 1.07

Rolling this week’s ladder position out 3 weeks to keep the ladder going
Bought to Close WFC Dec 24 2020 29 Calls / Sold to Open WFC Jan 15 2021 30 Calls @ 0.19 Credit plus an extra point on the strike price.

Bought to close ADS Dec 24 2020 72.5 Calls / Sold to Open ADS Dec 31 2020 75 Calls at $0.37 Credit and I moved the strike price up $2.50.
The stock is up 6% today on a ratings upgrade.